Success with Dynamic Signage

At first glance, electronic digital signage – aka “dynamic signage” – might appear to be a ripe opportunity to expand your business. After all, many of the same clients who turn to you for their print work would also likely benefit from some form of dynamic signage.

Electronic digital signage, however, is a very challenging market. The competition can be fierce, and margins tight – nothing necessarily new about those factors versus print. But, before you can enter this arena, you must also master an entirely new technology and all its nuances, all the while providing some easy-to-use solutions to a diverse set of client needs.

As the following examples show, it can be done. Those who have successfully expanded into dynamic signage all possess the vision, resources, and determination to make it an attractive and affordable option for their clients. And in the process, they’ve also managed to create new opportunities to sell their print services.

Combining all the optionsOver the last half century, Keith Fabry Reprographics in Richmond, Virginia (keithfabry.com), has built its success on a commitment to meet the evolving needs of its diverse client base for compelling graphic solutions.

So, as electronic digital signage made its transit from a leading-edge, gee-wiz technology to a more practical and affordable solution, the company’s principals decided it represented a service category they should investigate.

“It was showing up here and there, and we could see it was eventually going to take off,” recalls Ricky Shannon, operations manager for the company’s print and display group. “In 2007, we started exploring the technology – the pieces and parts that make up the systems.”

It took a year to be sufficiently grounded in the technology to convey its benefits to clients, especially retail accounts. “We definitely had to educate our customers about why they would want one of these systems, and how they would benefit,” he says

“But the bigger part of it was educating ourselves. As a traditional sign and graphics shop, this was much different than anything we’d done and required a completely different learning curve.”